More support for EU citizens seeking work

The European Commission wants to prolong the period for which European Union citizens are entitled to receive unemployment benefits from their home member state, while looking for work in another member state.

At present, home member states are obliged to pay jobseekers abroad for three months. The Commission believes that increasing the three-month period to six months would encourage more EU citizens to seek work in another member state – while also reducing fears that migrants might become a burden to the state where they are seeking work.

A pledge to consider changes to the regulation on social security co-ordination is contained in the Commission’s 2013 citizenship report, which is scheduled to be approved by the college of European commissioners when they meet in Brussels today (8 May).

New measures

The report, drafted under the authority of Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, contains 12 measures that are intended to make a reality of the rights laid down in the 1992 Maastricht treaty.

The Commission also wants to ensure that EU citizens who leave their country of citizenship to live in another member state do not lose their right to vote in their home country. Other measures include making it easier for EU citizens to work or train in another member state, reducing the paperwork citizens are required to fill out when travelling or living in another member state, and eliminating barriers to intra-EU online shopping.

The report also suggests an EU-wide framework for traineeships, outlining the rights and obligations of trainees and their employers to prevent exploitation.

The Commission based its proposals on a consultation conducted between May and September last year, in which more than 12,000 EU citizens took part, giving examples of where they faced bureaucratic obstacles to exercising their rights.